The Late Lover
on May 4, 2009
in gv
I opened The History of Philosophy by Władysław Tatarkiewicz and paged the book to read about Abelard. I learned that Pierre Abelard’s career as a thinker flourished and he was distinguished figure at his own time, but he was not a typical philosopher-theologian of the Middle Ages. His short but intensive life was filled with enthusiastically received lectures, persecution, ecstatic love and drama. Never had Abelard assumed that he would make the history as a lover – not thinker.
Who was she?
Heloise was much younger than him. Was it her face, her voice, or the beauty of her mind that turned Abelard into a passionate lover? As a professor of logic, Abelard could explain lots of things; he could even blend faith and reason together. Alas, he was helpless in the face of emotions. It is surprising how a man of reason could have developed such an intense feeling.
When I read the letters the lovers wrote to each other I am perplexed. I become an intruding witness of their romance. Why am I doing this? Why were the letters published? It is not literature only (I recall Werter’s letters – how boring). Their history is a real drama. They had a child and then secretly married. They both were severely punished for the sins of the flesh. Abelard was mutilated. He couldn’t bear the dishonour and that’s why he became a monk. Heloise became a nun. Abelard died at the age of 37. Heloise died about twenty years later and was buried beside him.
In one of his letters Abelard wrote:
I live in a barbarous country, the language of which I don’t understand; I have no conversation but with the rudest people. My walks are on the inaccessible shore of a sea which is always stormy.
The first word that comes to my mind is alienation. Why do some love stories have to end with a misfortune? Why are some lovers to remain lonely and unfulfilled?
Is it their illustrious romance, the history of two beautiful minds that once became one flesh to be humiliated and parted for ages that makes the story captivating? Or is it us, who are just unfulfilled as they were?
(sylwia_t)
